Half of the Consolidated B-24 Liberators were made at the Ford Willow River Plant. More B-24s were made than any other bomber. It was considered better-built than the more famous B-17 Flying Fortress which it outperformed in speed, range and bomb capacity. Liberator crews were credited with downing 2,600 enemy aircraft.
The 80-acre plant was built in just six months in 1941. By 1943 it had 42,000 employees building 230 B-24s a month. By 1944 that number was up to 650 a month. By the time production was halted in 1945, 8,600 had been built.
Good money was made by workers, but housing shortages, rationing and lack of resources earned Detroit the nickname "Arsehole of Democracy." Frustrated Willow Run workers dubbed the factory "Will It Run?"
During the war, 700,000+ Detroiters worked in war factories.
Aptly Earned Title. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
No comments:
Post a Comment